Clark County Preschool gets outdoor classroom

WINCHESTER, Ky. (WTVQ/Press Release) – Clark County Preschool, along with its partner Community Action Council, is excited to announce the installation of a state-of-the-art outdoor classroom.

Outdoor classrooms offer children the opportunity for big movement, vigorous social play, and explorations big and small. These activities help them refine motor skills and teach them how the world works.

Children need a broad variety of learning experiences and opportunities to grow in areas such as gross and fine motor development, social-emotional development, language development, and creative expression.

Mastery of the skills associated with these areas is critical for healthy development and later academic success, and requires an educational format that is very different from a traditional elementary classroom.

“This is a great example of the kind of financial investment and partnership Community Action Council has been able to offer Clark County Preschool over the last few years,” said Associate Director of Child Development for the Council April Mullins-Datko.

“The Council’s number one goal is the health and safety of young children. Ensuring that children can safely spread out but continue to practice lifelong skills, such as learning to negotiate, working together as a team, and developing autonomy is something that we are very excited about,” she added.

In the midst of COVID-19, this outdoor classroom will offer the opportunity to provide rich learning experiences in a safe outdoor environment.

“Early childhood education lays the essential strong foundation for every student in Clark County,” said Principal Dr. Kara Davies. “The role of Clark County Preschool is to not only provide a high quality learning experience for the most vulnerable students and families in Clark County, but also to partner with all agencies in our community to elevate the quality of care for all children.”

Community Action Council is a private, nonprofit human service provider. The Council operates South Central Head Start, an early childhood education and comprehensive services program for nearly 900 young children throughout eight South Central Kentucky counties, including 71 students enrolled at Clark County Preschool.